Standing on the stage of the Pabst Theater Tuesday before a single note was played, Ed Droste from Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear could see how far its fan base had come. When the band first played the Pabst, he said, tickets were available for only the lower level. On Tuesday, both the lower level and the lower balcony were filled, and there were even some folks up at the tippy top.

That's not surprising. After coalescing its lovely sound - most distinguished by angelic voices - around a gorgeous single, 2009's "Two Weeks" from breakthrough album "Veckatimest," Grizzly Bear came roaring back with last year's splendid "Shields," its grandest accomplishment to date and one of 2012's finer albums. | April 3, 2013»Read Full Article

Those bemoaning the lack of quality film fare this spring can take heart.

Four independent films by and with filmmakers and talent of note are scheduled to open here before the summer rush which starts - believe it or not - April 19, with Tom Cruise's "Oblivion." | April 2, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

Big Time Rush, the tween pop stars who seem to have outgrown their Nickelodeon roots, are coming back to town for a 7:30 p.m. show Aug. 11 at the Riverside Theater, 116 W. Wisconsin Ave.

The group, who headlined at Summerfest last year and the Wisconsin State Fair the summer before that, are on the road this summer as part of their Summer Break Tour; some dates on the tour also include Nickelodeon popster Victoria Justice, but she's not part of the Riverside gig. | April 2, 2013»Read Full Article(2)

About 60 current and former servers at a popular Milwaukee restaurant claim in a federal class action lawsuit that they were not paid the minimum wage, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Wisconsin wage and hour laws.

The lawsuit contends that La Fuente did not start paying workers the required minimum $2.33 an hour until after each server's first customer had been seated, though the workers were required to come in well before that time to roll silverware, set tables and otherwise ready the business. | April 2, 2013»Read Full Blog Post(33)

Like most journalists, I look to reports like the recently released Tow Center report on the changing nature of the field for guidance, for ways of thinking about what I do. But what I find is that what I do as a critic is increasingly marginalized or ignored by such studies.

In the thousands of words in the report from Tow, based at the Columbia School of Journalism and written by some of the finest minds in the field, there is a glaring void. There is no real consideration of cultural dialogue and criticism, perhaps the fastest shrinking segment of mainstream media today. Journalism worth doing is defined as investigative, watchdog journalism, the stories that somebody, somewhere doesn't want written. I would agree that this is the core of good journalism. | April 2, 2013»Read Full Blog Post(9)

NBC may have turned "The Tonight Show" into a battleground, but the principals - current host Jay Leno and rumored future host Jimmy Fallon - remain fast friends, if this duet that appeared Monday night on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" is any indication.